


Cherry and Atticus are Finding Nemo

by PerkyGoth14



Category: Finding Nemo (2003)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-14
Updated: 2017-05-03
Packaged: 2018-08-08 19:43:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7770556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerkyGoth14/pseuds/PerkyGoth14
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cherry, Atticus, and the others are given an assignment to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia to have an adventure under the sea just as Atticus turns his new cousin Penny into a mermaid to be more like their family. Along the way, they meet a clownfish family, though the son gets separated from his father and they must travel the whole ocean to find him and bring him home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Penny was coming to visit the Fudo family and she was on her computer a lot which her adoptive mother had warned the family about, mentioning she was getting close with her new friend Cody from Australia with their adventure with the Rescue Aid Society of Bernard and Bianca.

"Hey there, Penny." Atticus smiled.

"Hi, Atticus..." Penny looked up for a moment.

Atticus looked over her shoulder slightly. "Of course, chatting with Cody... I think you like him."

Penny blushed. "Wh-Whatya mean?"

"You know what I mean." Atticus smirked.

Penny blushed slightly. "Okay, I think I do... He's interesting, and so brave and adventurous..." her eyes then sparkled.

"Yeah, he reminds me of myself at that age," Atticus had to admit. "Anyway, what's up with Cody?"

"He wants me to visit sometime, but I'm right here with you guys and he lives in Australia," Penny said. "And... I can't swim... He wants to go swimming..."

"You can't swim?" Atticus never knew that.

"Not really," Penny pouted. "I know this is silly, but I once had dreams I was a mermaid and we'd swim together around the Great Barrier Reef of Australia together like merpeople."

This gave Atticus an idea.

Darla walked into the room. "Hey, Penny, Maisy and Rufus are really getting along nicely."

"Oh, that's good," Penny smiled to that. "By the way, when do I meet those chipmunk friends of yours?"

"Well, the Chipettes are in Australia actually," Darla replied. "They're visiting their friend from the orphanage; Olivia."

"Huh, that's funny, Cody has an Aunt Olivia who's in college..." Penny replied.

"Who's Rufus again?" Patch asked.

"You see that older cat with Maisy?" Atticus pointed.

Patch nodded.

"That's Rufus," Penny smiled. "I've known him since the orphanage, he was my best friend."

"Ohh, yeah." Patch smiled.

"Hi, puppy." Penny smiled to Patch and pet him.

Patch smiled back and nuzzled against the girl.

Atticus came into the kitchen as his mother was preparing lunch. "Mom, do you think we could let Penny become a mermaid?" he then asked.

"It would be nice to have another mermaid in the family." Emily smiled.

"She is part of this family now after all..." Atticus smiled back.

"Have I taught you how to turn people into merpeople yet?" Emily asked.

"No." Atticus shook his head.

"Well, you have to get said person into the water," Emily bent down slightly to match his height. "And then, you kiss their forehead and since you gave them your kiss of being a merboy, they'll instantly become a mermaid or merman!"

"Well, um, what if I kissed a female on the lips?" Atticus blushed.

"Oh, the same result," Emily replied. "Oh! And they would also be able to talk and breathe underwater and meet all sorts of sea creatures. I did the same to your father so he wouldn't have consequences of casting a spell on himself to become a merman so he would be with me more before we got married. As you know, the witch/warlock/wiccan world can be cruel sometimes."

"Yeah." Atticus nodded.

"Why do you ask?" Emily asked.

"Um, well, I, uh..." Atticus blushed.

"Atticus... Do you want to turn Mo into a mermaid?" Emily asked since Atticus was getting shy and nervous about the question.

"Um, well, actually-" Atticus started.

"He already turned her into a mermaid." Casper smiled as he came in.

"Is that right?" Emily asked.

"Remember when Drell and Hilda took us to meet Wendy the Good Little Witch?" Atticus said. "Well, I did it then."

"Then who would you like to turn into a mermaid, Atticus?" Emily then asked her son.

"Well, I would like to turn Penny into a mermaid." Atticus said, making it obvious.

"Oh, how sweet~" Emily hugged Atticus around his neck and kissed his cheek noisily.

"Mom, not in front of Casper..." Atticus sounded slightly embarrassed.

"Oh, come on bro, we're family now, aren't we?" Casper smirked playfully before taking a picture.

"Casper!" Atticus said through his teeth.

Casper laughed. "I gotta show this to Wendy."

Atticus sighed and rolled his eyes. "So, Mom, can I turn Penny into a mermaid?"

"Of course you can!" Emily smiled. "She's part of this family now."

"Great! Thanks, but first; I have to go and stop a certain brother of mine." Atticus said.

"Go ahead, but no running in the house." Emily chuckled.

Atticus then smirked and went to chase after Casper. "Get over here, McFadden!"

"It's Fudo now!" Casper laughed as he ran from Atticus.

"Whatever! Just give me that picture!" Atticus laughed.

Casper laughed as he kept running to avoid Atticus.

"Oooh, you're gonna get it!" Atticus challenged.

Meanwhile in the Other Realm...

Drell was looking through his crystal ball and pouted. "Oh, poor clownfish, his girlfriend just got eaten with all the eggs..."

Penelope soon pointed to one egg that survived.

"Hm?" Drell looked to her and looked over.

The egg that survived from the barracuda attack had a small crack in it, but it was still functional and moving. The clownfish then cradled his last surviving egg and decided to name it 'Nemo' since it was what his beloved would have wanted.

"Looks like we know what the next adventure will be." Penelope smiled.

Drell nodded, then stood up and walked behind Skippy and slapped him on the back. Skippy yelped and accidentally dropped the salt shaker right into the pot he was pinching into.

"Alert my magical students," Drell told him. "These kids are going to the ocean."

Skippy sighed before he nodded.

Drell patted him on the head, then took out a ladle and tried to broth and spit right into Skipyp's face. "Too salty!" he then walked off.

Skippy sighed once more.

Atticus decided to take Penny to meet Cherry and Mo.

"I really like your puppy, Atticus," Penny smiled. "He seems so brave and smart."

"He sure is." Atticus smiled.

Patch smiled smugly to that.

"Don't get carried away." Atticus then warned as he saw that.

Patch stuck his tongue out teasingly in response.

"You two act like brothers." Penny smiled.

"So I've heard..." Atticus chuckled.

"Welcome to the family, Penny." Patch smiled to the brunette girl.

"Thanks, Patch." Penny smiled back to the dalmatian puppy.

Casper was coming along as he didn't want to be left out on what he sensed would be an adventure.

Cherry opened the door as she was visiting the Brown house and saw her best friend, his new cousin, puppy, and new brother were at the door. "Oh, hey, guys."

"Hey, Cherry." Atticus smiled.

"Hey, you here to see Mo?" Cherry highly assumed.

"Yep." Atticus nodded.

"Figures..." Cherry replied.

"I'll visit you too!" Atticus's eyes widened in worry of her mood.

"Hmm..." Cherry hummed as she let them inside her family's home anyway.

Casper soon gave Cherry the picture of Atticus and his mom. Cherry took the picture and then laughed slightly.

"Hey!" Atticus glanced to his little brother.

"Hey, I had to let someone see it." Casper shrugged with an innocent smile.

Atticus sighed and rolled his eyes.

They all then came into the house and joined Mo in the living room. Mo was teaching Junior how to walk on his own as he was now at that age. And where Junior seemed to be able to do it on his first try.

"Good!" Mo cooed to her little brother. "Good, JJ!"

Junior smiled to his big sister as he then leaned against her as she sat on her knees to match his height.

Mo smiled and hugged him back. "Oh, you're growing up so fast..."

Junior smiled at her and then looked to see the others. Mo then looked up.

"Aw, no, I missed it!" Cherry groaned.

"Don't worry, Cherry, he got it on the first try." Mo smiled as she held her little brother.

"That's great." Atticus smiled.

Penny shyly hid behind Atticus as she held her teddy bear close, feeling a little shy and nervous.

"And who do we have here?" Mo smiled as she noticed Penny.

Atticus stepped aside. "This is my little cousin, Penny... Well, go on, Penny, Mo's not gonna bite."

"Um... Hello..." Penny smiled shyly to the tomboy.

"Hello." Mo smiled.

Penny nervously walked over.

"Oh, you look nice and strong, how old are you?" Mo smiled.

"I'll be seven in June." Penny smiled softly.

"That sounds like you'll be a big girl then." Mo smiled.

Penny smiled.

"Oh, I like your friend," Mo pointed to the teddy bear in the girl's arms. "What's his name?"

"Teddy." Penny replied.

"And what a lovely name." Mo smiled.

Penny giggled. Atticus smiled that Penny and Mo were getting along so well and felt like nothing could possibly ruin this moment. They were then suddenly teleported to Drell's office.


	2. Chapter 2

"What in the?!" Cherry looked around as they were suddenly in chairs.

"Hello," Drell greeted before getting grabbed by the neck tie. "Ow..." he then gasped and gagged as he was grabbed. And where he grew nervous as it was Atticus that grabbed him by his neck tie and didn't look happy.

"Heeey, Atticus..." Drell smiled shyly.

Atticus slightly growled. "Why do you want us here right now?"

"Hey, I'd never do anything to hurt you or your social life," Drell replied. "I just need you guys to go to the Australian Ocean."

"Okay? Why?" Atticus asked.

"Let go of me first." Drell said.

Atticus then let go of him and folded his arms. "What's this all about?"

"It involves a little clownfish, you have to help him so he can get home to his dad in the ocean before he gets taken away forever." Drell said.

"A clownfish, taken away forever?" Cherry replied. "Drell, you're not making any sense!"

Drell sighed before he showed them what he meant.

They were being shown a different ocean and were being brought to a sea anemone. A male voice kept wowing while the female voice merely agreed. There were two clownfish who were admiring the sight as they looked out into the open see by the reef. 

"Yes, Marlin," the female clownfish said to her mate. "No, I see it. It's beautiful."

"So, Coral, when you said you wanted an ocean view, you didn't think you'd get the whole ocean, did you?" the male clownfish smiled back to her. "Huh? Oh, yeah. A fish can breathe out here. Did your man deliver or did he deliver?"

"Oh, my man delivered." The female clownfish smiled.

"And it wasn't so easy." the male clownfish replied.

"Because a lot of other clownfish had their eyes on this place." the female clownfish rolled her eyes.

"You bet they did, every single one of 'em." The male clownfish said.

"There doesn't seem to be a problem here." Mo said.

Drell then decided to fast forward a little with the clownfish couples' interaction and their over 400 eggs.

"Wow, that's a lot of eggs." Casper said.

"They've been busy." Cherry joked slightly.

The male clownfish then reminded the female about how they met and Drell let it go to normal speed right there as the ocean now seemed dark and empty. There didn't seem to be any fish out except for the clownfish couple. 

"Where did everybody go?" the male clownfish wondered. He soon saw what scared off everyone except for himself and his wife. "Coral, get inside the house, Coral!" he then urged his wife as there was a hungry and vengeful looking barracuda in the distance.

He saw his wife look down to their eggs. He tried to stop her from going after the eggs, but she did that which made the barracuda swoop down after her and smacked the male clownfish into their home as it roared and went after the female clownfish and all of their eggs. Well... Almost all of them.

"Oh, dear..." Mo frowned.

"That's so devastating..." Cherry even sounded emotional.

They were then shown as the male clownfish cradled his surviving egg and named him Nemo.

"Okay, we'll go." Atticus said.

"It's very important." Drell nodded.

"Can we go in our mermaid forms?" Mo asked. "I mean, we'll be in the ocean after all."

"Of course and where Casper and Penny will have their own merpeople forms as well, along with Cody." Drell said.

"I'm going to be a mermaid?" Penny asked.

"Yes." Drell nodded.

"We'll see Cody again," Mo smiled to the girl, then looked to Drell. "Wait, you know Cody from Australia, Drell?"

"Yes." Drell nodded.

Penny seemed to blush at the mention of Cody.

"Well, let's just hope these fish don't freak out at the sight of mermaids," Atticus said. "By the way, I appreciate Penny becoming one too, she's our family now, you know."

"Yes, I know." Drell said.

Atticus was about to hug Drell.

"Ah, easy there, I have a bad back..." Drell stopped him right there.

Skippy quickly shook his head no with a smirk.

"You shut up!" Drell glared at Skippy.

"I think your back is fine." Cherry smirked at Drell.

Drell growled to them until Atticus tightly hugged him. Skippy and Cherry then shared a fist bump with each other. And where they weren't going to tell Atticus to ease up on the strength.

"Why are you so affectionate?" Drell groaned as he was held into a bone-crushingly tight hug.

"I just want you to know how much I appreciate you that and this is also for everything you've done to Cherry and Skippy." Atticus said while still hugging Drell with his strength.

"Oh, just let it go, my life is my own personal business!" Drell grunted.

"Nope, I'm not letting go." Atticus smirked as he tightened his grip a little.

Drell tried to move Atticus off. "Guh, your father was never this clingy!" He then soon felt this wasn't a hug it was a bear hug and where this soon gave him an idea why Atticus was tightening his grip and wouldn't let go so he had to make the one promise. "Let go! What do you want from me?!" He then soon saw Cherry and Skippy and soon had an idea what Atticus wanted.

Atticus kept hugging.

"You want me to be nicer to Cherry and Skippy?" Drell then weakly asked.

"Yes and that means no torturing them." Atticus said.

"For how long?" Drell then asked once he was freed and he hunched forward slightly.

"Hmm... How's about six months?" Atticus smirked.

"Six months?!" Drell's eyes widened, then smirked as he had a slight idea. "Very well..."

"Well that was easy." Penny smiled.

"Wait for it." Patch said, unconvinced.

Atticus looked to Drell. "What do you want, Drell?"

"What if we make this interesting?" Drell curled his finger in his hair.

"Oh, really? Like what?" Atticus asked.

"Hmm~..." Drell thought about it. "How about I stop hurting Cherry and Skippy for six months, and if I succeed, you have to be a girl for the rest of the year for my amusement."

"Why not let Atticus stay with you for a whole year?" Cherry laughed, thinking that was a funny joke.

"What an interesting wager..." Drell chuckled.

Cherry cupped her mouth as Atticus then glared down to her for bringing that up.

"That should do quite nicely." Drell smirked.

Atticus then took out a stack of papers and hit Cherry with them. "Bad girl, bad!"

"Ow, ow, ow..." Cherry winced.

"Well, you kids better get to the ocean." Drell smirked.

"Wait, wait, hang on a second, what if I win?" Atticus asked.

Drell thought about it, then laughed. "I'll fill in for the Tooth Fairy for the year."

"Excellent." Atticus smirked.

"Will you even wear her dress?" Cherry sneakily purred.'

"Why not?" Drell smirked. "I'm gonna win this bet anyway."

"Uh-huh, sure." Atticus smirked.

"What bet?" Penny asked.

"Never mind that now, for I shall send you to Australia right int othe ocean." Drell said.

"Whoa, wait a minute!" Cherry cried out about that being so sudden.

Drell ignored her and sent them all right into the Pacific Ocean without another word.

"To the ocean!" Patch smiled.

"Now, I can relax for a while..." Drell leaned back in his chair and slid off his shoes and wiggled his free toes. "Skippy, be a dear and massage my feet?"

Skippy smirked as he brought out a tape recorder and hit rewind before pressing play about the bet.

"Skippy, you are my assistant..." Drell reminded. "You are to do what I say, whenever I say."

Skippy smirked as he brought out a dress.

"Skippy..." Drell said in a firm tone. "I said I wouldn't hurt you..."

Skippy snickered.

"SKIPPY!" Drell yelled out.

Skippy then laughed manically as he forced the pink tutu dress onto Drell.

"Okay, okay." Drell groaned.

Skippy then stepped back with a giggle.

Drell glared as he was in a pink dress with a tutu, white tights and sparkling pink slippers with glittering white fairy wings on the back and had a shining silver princess tiara on top with a magic wand which had a tooth on it.

"I hate this bet." Drell glared,

Skippy giggled as he then took a picture.

Drell grabbed Skippy by his tie and breathed heavily. "You.... YOU!!!!"

Skippy soon brought out a crystal ball with it meant to call Atticus.

Drell smiled nervously, then let go of Skippy and gently patted the smaller man. "Easy, buddy, easy..."

Skippy began to smirk as he could get used to this. Drell sighed as he felt like this was going to be a long while.


	3. Chapter 3

Meanwhile in the Pacific Ocean...

The others were in mermaid/merman form and were now under the water. 

"Wow, I'm a mermaid!" Penny smiled at her indigo tail fin. "This is like a dream come true!"

"Uh, yeah, it's a dream..." Atticus made up. He soon heard her yelp in pain as she pinched herself.

Penny glanced suspiciously to her big cousin.

"You better tell her the truth." Patch whispered.

"You think I'll be allowed to?" Atticus whispered back. "She is a mortal."

"That's true, but she's your family now." Patch reminded.

"And she's now a mermaid." Mo added.

"All right..." Atticus sighed in defeat. "Uh, Penny, there's a lot you need to learn about our family since you're a member now."

"And that is?" Penny asked.

"Well, Penny, this is one part," Atticus replied. "On Mom's side of the family, we're mermaids and mermen."

"Amazing." Penny smiled.

"There's a lot to learn..." Atticus smiled back. 

"I wanna see the fish up close!" Penny giggled as she swam around the ocean.

"Penny, slow down!" Atticus called out.

Penny giggled as she explored. Atticus sighed and soon swam after his little cousin and the others followed before Penny would get hurt, or worse.

"This is awesome!" Penny smiled.

Atticus smiled himself as his younger cousin was happy. This seemed to be a happy sight as well for the many sea creatures as it felt like nothing could possibly ruin the moment. Penny soon saw a humanoid manta ray.

"Whoa, Penny!" Atticus held her back.

"What's that?" Penny asked.

"That's Evil Manta, get back here." Atticus took her to safety.

"Why?" Penny asked.

"He's bad news," Cherry told the former orphan as Evil Manta came behind her without her noticing. "He's one of the vilest and nastiest creatures of the sea, Atticus told me all about him and he's a big sea jerk and is the biggest bully you'll ever meet and he's right behind me, isn't he?" she then asked weakly after Atticus made 'shut up' gestures.

"Whoa." Penny said before seeing the sting ray.

Cherry soon zipped behind Atticus.

"Ah, well, if it isn't little Atticus..." Evil Manta roughly patted the boy on the head.

"What're you up to, Manta?" Atticus glared.

"Oh, nothing," Evil Manta smirked. "Just going for a stroll."

"Manta....?!" Atticus narrowed his eyes. "I know you're up to something, you're called Evil Manta for a reason! Are you trying to bail Marina out of jail?"

"No, not yet, but you should know that I might be hungry for clown fish." Evil Manta smirked.

Atticus's eyes widened before he glared. "You wouldn't dare!"

"Perhaps over there..." Evil Manta smirked in the direction of a sea anemone where a clown fish couple was with their hundreds and hundreds of eggs.

"Don't you dare!" Atticus glared.

Evil Manta grinned. Atticus growled as he then began to wrestle against Evil Manta, but it seemed to be a diversion as a barracuda came after the clown fish family.

"Oh, no!" Patch gasped.

Atticus growled as he wrestled against Evil Manta. Penny covered her eyes as the barracuda smacked the male clown fish into his home before he took his mate and all of their eggs. Well, almost all of them. She had saved one of the eggs and hid it from the barracuda.

"Penny!" Patch yelped.

Penny kept quiet and hidden as she held the egg, she quietly cooed though as it had a slight crack in it, but she felt a heartbeat which meant that the guppy was still alive.

'Thank goodness.' Penny thought to herself.

The barracuda soon swam off after thinking it had wiped out the whole clown fish family.

"Way to go, buddy." Evil Manta smirked to the barracuda as they seemed to have a handshake with each other, showing that they were working together.

"Why, you!" Atticus glared.

Evil Manta laughed as he swam away with the barracuda.

"Penny?" Mo came to her boyfriend's little cousin. "Penny, are you okay?"

"I'm fine... I think this little guy's fine too..." Penny replied as she cradled the egg.

"You saved one of the eggs." Mo smiled.

Cherry reached for the sea anemone to tell the male clown fish that it was safe to come out now only to wince as it seemed to sting her. "OW!"

"You okay, Cherry?" Atticus asked.

"That plant just stung me!" Cherry pouted as she put her finger in her mouth.

Atticus came to the sea anemone. "Hey, uh, you can come out now, buddy!" he called out to the lone clown fish inside.

The clown fish soon woke up with a fright.

"Hey, it's okay, little guy..." Atticus soothed. "It's gonna be okay..."

"Where's Coral?" The clown fish asked about his mate.

"I'm afraid she's dead." Atticus frowned.

"No problem, Mr. Clown Fish," Penny replied. "So sorry for your losses."

"We are all sorry." Atticus said.

"Thank you all for trying," The male clown fish replied as he cradled his remaining egg. "There, there, there. It's okay, daddy's here. Daddy's got you. I promise, I will never let anything happen to you… Nemo."

"Nemo....Sounds like a perfect name." Patch smiled.

"Coral said she liked that name." The clown fish smiled back.

"What do they call you, sir?" Cherry asked.

"I'm Marlin." the male clown fish replied softly as he held his lone egg.

"It's nice to meet you, Marlin." Atticus said.

"Likewise," Marlin replied. "I've heard of mercreatures, but I can't say I've seen one up close."

"Guess this is your first time meeting some." Mo smiled.

"I guess so..." Marlin sighed as he held his egg. "Sorry, I'm going through a lot of emotions right now, maybe we can talk later."

"That's okay," Atticus nodded to the male clown fish. "My mother was the same way when we lost my Aunt Athena."

"Your aunt was Queen Athena?" Marlin asked.

"Yes, she was..." Atticus said before sighing softly. "I miss her a lot... Sometimes when I need to relax, I hear her lullaby in my head..."

"I don't know much about this sea life, but I guess Athena was a cool aunt..." Cherry shrugged.

The group soon introduced themselves to Marlin. Marlin smiled back, after a little while, he decided to go home for the night and promised to take good care of his future child so they wouldn't end up like Coral who he would name Nemo in her honor and memory.

It was of course not time to go home yet, the times had passed for everyone and soon enough, Nemo had grown into a growing young fish and was now awaiting an exciting day in his life.

"First day of school! First day of school!" Nemo beamed as he tried to wake up his father. "Wake up, wake up! C'mon, first day of school!"

"I don't wanna go to school!" Marlin whined in his sleep. "Five more minutes!"

"Not you, Dad, me!" Nemo told Marlin in excitement.

"Okay... Huh?" Marlin groggily replied.

"Get up, get up!" Nemo swam around in excitement. "It's time for school! It's time for school! It's time for school! It's time for school! Oh, boy! Oh, boy!" He soon tripped outside.

"NEMO!" Marlin panicked and swam outside for his only son.

"First day of school!" Nemo muffled as he was stuck in some coral.

"Nemo, don't move! Don't move! You'll never get out of there yourself. I'll do it," Marlin helped his son and soon popped him out of the coral and looked in deep concern which soon annoyed Nemo. "All right, where's the break? You feel a break?"

"No." Nemo said.

The others soon came out to help take Nemo to school as they promised Marlin once he was old enough.

"Sometimes you can't tell 'cause fluid is rushing to the area," Marlin continued. "Now, any rushing fluids?"

"No." Nemo replied.

"Are you woozy?" Marlin turned his son over.

"No." Nemo rolled his eyes. 

"How many stripes do I have?" Marlin then asked.

"I'm fine." Nemo groaned.

"Answer the stripes question!" Marlin urged his son.

"Three." Nemo rolled his eyes.

"No! See, something's wrong with you," Marlin replied before counting himself. "I have one, two, three--That's all I have? Oh, you're okay. How's the lucky fin?"

"Lucky." Nemo replied as he showed his damaged fin since birth.

"Let's see." Marlin said.

Though Nemo struggled to reach his father, nonetheless they succeeded in a simple high-five to each other.

The others then came out.

"Morning, Nemo, hi, Marlin," Atticus smiled. "Ready to go to school?"

"You bet!" Nemo beamed.

"Are you sure you wanna go to school this year?" Marlin coaxed to Nemo. "'Cuz no problem if you don't. You can wait five or six years."

"Come on, Dad, it's time for school!" Nemo told his father.

"Yes, Marlin, and we promised to help take him there." Cherry reminded the male clown fish.

"Ah, ah, ah," Marlin reminded Nemo. "Forgot to brush."

"Oh..." Nemo moaned.

"Do you want this anemone to sting you?" Marlin asked his son.

Nemo looked back and smiled. "Yes!"

"Brush." Marlin told his son.

Nemo groaned and soon brushed before his father began to tickle him as they were going to school.

"I'm a little scared about this school thing, Atticus." Penny whimpered to her big cousin.

"Don't worry, school isn't scary." Atticus assured her.

"Eh, wait until you're our age." Cherry added.

Atticus glared and nudged her slightly.

"Ow!" Cherry glared back.

"You'll have fun." Mo said.

Marlin took Nemo's fin as they were on their way to school as he reminded Nemo some rules they went over.

"Dad, maybe while I'm at school, I'll see a shark!" Nemo beamed.

"I highly doubt that." Marlin replied.

"Have you ever met a shark?" Nemo asked.

"No, and I don't plan to." Marlin shook his head.

"How about you guys?" Nemo asked the others.

"Nope." Atticus shook his head.

"I saw the movie Shark Tale a few times..." Cherry shrugged.

"Maybe someday." Mo smiled encouragingly.

"How old are sea turtles?" Nemo asked. 

"Sea turtles?" Marlin replied in confusion. "I don't know."

"I have no idea." Penny said.

"Sandy Plankton from next door, he said that sea turtles, said that they live to be about a hundred years old!" Nemo replied.

"Wow." Penny smiled.

"Well, you know what, if I ever meet a sea turtle, I'll ask him. After I'm done talking to the shark, okay?" Marlin replied before suddenly stopping Nemo. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold on, hold on, wait to cross."

There were fish swimming all around like a traffic jam until they then suddenly stopped and it was safe to cross.

"Wow..." Penny was amazed by the pretty colors as Atticus held her hand.

"Hold my fin," Marlin told Nemo. "Hold my fin."

"Dad, you're not gonna freak out like you did at the petting zoo, are you?" Nemo asked.

"Hey, that snail was about to charge." Marlin defended.

"The snail wasn't even fast." Mo said.

Marlin was busily trying to find where Nemo's class. As overprotective as usual, Marlin kept very close to his son to make absolutely certain he wouldn't wander off into any trouble. "Hmm... I wonder where we're supposed to go?" he wondered.

"I don't know." Mo said.

Penny was so amazed by the all types of sea creatures and she was excited that she got to be apart of this.

"Excuse me, is this where we meet his teacher?" Marlin came up to seahorse, octopus, and butterfly fish as they were laughing with each other.

"Please tell us." Cherry begged.

"Well, look who's out of the anemone." The seahorse smirked to Marlin.

"Yes," Marlin replied. "Shocking, I know." 

"Marty, right?" The seahorse asked.

"Marlin." The adult male clown fish corrected.

"Bob." The seahorse gave his name.

"Ted." The octopus added.

"Bill." The butterfly fish concluded.

"Anyway, yes, the teacher should be here in a moment or two." The octopus said before the butterfly fish began to laugh to Marlin for some reason.

"Is something funny?" Mo asked.

"Yeah, he's a clown fish, right?" Bill asked about Marlin in excitement. "You're funny, right? Hey, tell us a joke!" 

Bob and Ted seemed to agree with this as they wanted to hear a joke too.

"I highly disagree." Cherry said.

"She's right, that's a common misconception," Marlin agreed. "Clown fish are no funnier than any other fish."

"Aw, come on, Clowny." Bill urged.

"Yeah, do something funny." Ted added.

"Yeah!" Bob agreed.

"Oh, this is going to get awkward." Cherry sighed.

"All right, I know one joke," Marlin gave in as he then began to tell a joke. "Um, there's a mollusk, see? And he walks up to a sea, well, he doesn't walk up, he swims up… Well, actually the mollusk isn't moving. He's in one place and then the sea cucumber, well they--- I mixed up. There was a mollusk and a sea cucumber. None of them were walking, so forget that I--"

"See?" Cherry asked.

"Sheldon! Get out of Mr. Johansen's yard, now!" Bob suddenly shouted at a young seahorse who was with a young butterfly fish and a young octopus. 

Everyone looks behind to see that three children who were messing around with an Eagle Ray fish.

"That seems a bit mean." Penny said.

"Dad, Dad, can we play too?" Nemo asked. "Can we?"

"I would feel better if you go play over on the sponge beds." Marlin replied.

"You mean the ones for guppies?" Patch asked, unimpressed.

"That's where I would play." Marlin sheepishly smiled.

"I bet you would." Cherry deadpanned.

The girl octopus came beside Nemo and noticed a deformity. "What's wrong with his fin?"

"He looks funny!" The young butterfly fish laughed.

"Hey!" Penny glared.

"Be nice," Bob scolded his son despite that the butterfly fish was laughing. "It's his first time at school."

"What are you?" The girl octopus asked Penny.

"I'm a mermaid." Penny smiled.

"Cool." The girl octopus smiled back.

"He was born with it," Marlin told the others about Nemo's deformed fin. "We call it his lucky fin."

"Daaaad..." Nemo groaned.

"See this tentacle?" The girl octopus showed one tentacle with a smile to help make Nemo feel better about himself. "It's actually shorter than all my other tentacles, but you can't really tell. Especially when I twirl them like this."

"I'm H2O intolerant." The young seahorse said before sneezing himself backwards.

"I'M OBNOXIOUS!" The young butterfly fish concluded, getting in Nemo's face.

"We can already tell." Cherry groaned.

"Oooh, Let's name the zones, The zones, the zones, Let's name the zones of the open sea!~" A sting ray sang as he swam over them.

"MR. RAY!" The kids grew excited.

"Come on, guys!" The young seahorse told Nemo and Penny.

"Alright!" Penny smiled.

"Whoa, you better stay with me." Marlin held Nemo back.

Penny firmly pouted as she didn't like Marlin being so overprotective like this.

As Mr. Ray concludes his song and prepares to land, all of the children gathered in a spot where they were all covered by their own school teacher. Mr. Ray had a feeling of where the kids were hiding and yet decided to play along just for their amusement. "Huh, I wonder where my class has gone?" he then smiled as he pretended to look around.

'He sure is funny.' Penny thought to herself.

"Dad, you can go now." Marlin rushed his father.

"Well, hello," Mr. Ray noticed Nemo and the others. "Who are you?"

"I'm Penny." Penny greeted.

"Well, Nemo and Penny, all new explorers must answer a science question." Mr. Ray told his new students.

"Okay." Nemo and Penny replied.

"You live in what kind of home?" Mr. Ray asked them.

That was an awkward situation for Penny. It seemed worse for Nemo.

"An anemo-none," Nemo struggled to pronounce the name of his home that his father taught him. "A nemenem-menome-nememen-nenemone--"

"What is it called again?" Penny asked.

"Anemone." Atticus whispered to her.

"That's a tricky word." Penny replied.

"I know." Atticus said.

"Okay, okay, don't hurt yourself." Mr. Ray said to Penny and Nemo.

Penny soon hugged Atticus as it looked like it was time to go to school. Atticus hugged her back.

"I haven't seen a mermaid in a very long time, welcome aboard, Penny." Mr. Ray smiled to the former orphaned girl.

Penny smiled back as she came to go with the others on the field trip. "Where are we going, sir?" she then asked.

"Off to the reef!" Mr. Ray informed.

"Cool." Vincent said.

Penny giggled as she rode with the others to the reef and her pigtails flew through the currents.

"Bye, Nemo!" Marlin called out.

"Bye, Dad!" Nemo called back.

"Bye Atticus!" Penny called out.

"Have a great time, Penny!" Atticus called back to his little cousin.

"I will!" Penny smiled.

"Hey, you're pretty well for a first timer." Bob said to Marlin.

"Well, you can't hold onto them forever, can you?" Marlin replied.

"Yep." Atticus nodded.

"Yeah, I had a tough time when my oldest went out at the drop off." Bill added.

"Oh, that could be bad." Mo said.

"They just gotta grow up--The drop off?!" Marlin suddenly panicked. "They're going to the drop off?!"

"What's the big deal?" Cherry shrugged. "It's just a drop off."

"Wh-What are you, insane?!" Marlin swam up to her in alarm. "Why don't we fry 'em up now and serve them with chips!?"

"What's so bad about the drop off?" Cherry asked.

"Hey, Marty, calm down!" Bob told the adult male clown fish.

"Don't tell me to be calm, Pony Boy!" Marlin replied before swimming off to go after his son.

"Wow, he must be really worried." Mo said.

"Pony Boy?" Bob scoffed.

"You know for a clown fish, he isn't really that funny." Bill said.

"Pity." Ted added.


	4. Chapter 4

Meanwhile...

"Oh, let's name the species, The species, the species, Let's name the species, That live in the sea~" Mr. Ray sang as he took the kids all around the ocean floor.

"Ooh." Penny smiled.

"Wow..." Nemo marveled at the sights.

Everyone could see a vast majority of coral, all of different shapes and size, standing before them like a colorful jungle. A great assortment of fish passed by these reefs, some above the coral and others below. So much abundant in these parts, there was hardly any time to name all the species.

Soon enough, they arrived at their destination.

"Okay, the drop off," Mr. Ray told his students as he landed to let them off. "All right, everyone, feel free to explore, but stay close."

"Yes, sir." Penny said.

"Stromalitic cyanobacteria!" Mr. Ray suddenly gasped before showing the others a speck before certain others seemed to wander off as he began to educate them. "Gather."

"Ooh." Penny smiled.

"Come on, let's go." The butterfly fish kid told the seahorse and octopus.

The three of them soon left. Nemo and Penny then found themselves following after their new friends.

"Hey, guys, wait up!" Nemo called out.

"Yeah, wait up!" Penny added.

They were too breath-taken with how big the Drop-Off truly was and nothing but miles upon miles of big, blue water stretching endlessly from way ahead.

"Cool." The butterfly fish said.

The octopus came closer until he then scared her and laughed as she seemed to gush out a black liquid from her tentacles.

"Aw, you guys made me ink!" The octopus pouted.

"So, what's going on over here?" Penny asked the others.

"It's that thing," The octopus girl pointed out. "What is it?"

"I know what that is," The butterfly fish spoke up. "Sandy Plankton saw one. He called, he said it was called a… A butt."

"Whoa..." Nemo was amazed.

"Wow, that's a pretty big butt." The octopus agreed.

"That's not a butt, that's a boat," Penny said. "But why is there a boat out here in the ocean?"

"Boat..." The others then repeated the right word.

"Oh, look at me," The seahorse taunted with a smirk. "I'm gonna go touch the boat." he then sneezed which made him swim backward slightly.

"Maybe we shouldn't be here." Penny said.

The others went closer and the only ones left were Nemo and Penny.

"Come on, guys," The butterfly fish called out to them. "How far can you go?"

"Listen, I think we should go back to the class." Penny said.

"Besides, my dad says it's not safe." Nemo added.

"NEMO, NO!" Suddenly, a voice yelled out.

Penny and Nemo turned to see that it was Marlin.

"Marlin?" Penny asked. "What are you doing here?"

"You were about to swim into open water!" Marlin scolded.

"No, I wasn't going out-" Nemo tried to explain.

"Marlin, he wasn't going to swim out into open water and neither was I." Penny said.

"Sir, they weren't gonna go." The octopus added.

"Yeah, they were too scared." The butterfly fish nodded.

"No, we're not!" Nemo glared slightly.

"This does not concern you, kids and you're lucky I don't tell you parents you were out there," Marlin told Nemo's friends before looking directly to his son. "You know you can't swim well."

"I can swim fine, okay, Dad?" Nemo glared.

Penny grew concerned about where this was going.

"No, it's not okay," Marlin scolded Nemo. "You shouldn't be anywhere near here... Oh, I was right," he then took his son's fin. "You'll start school in a year or two."

"No, Dad!" Nemo pulled away. "Just 'cuz you're scared of the ocean-"

"Clearly, you're not ready and you're not coming back until you are," Marlin interrupted. "You think you can do these things, but you just can't, Nemo!"

Nemo narrowed his eyes as he was very angry with his father right now. "I hate you."

Penny knew that had to hurt.

"There's-" Mr. Ray started to sing, but then stopped. "Nothing to see! Uh, gather over there," he then told his students before going over to Marlin. "Excuse me, is there anything I can do? I am a scientist, sir. Is there any problem?"

"I'm sorry, we didn't mean to interrupt things," Marlin said. "He isn't a good swimmer and it's a little too soon for him to be out here unsupervised."

"Marlin, stop, you're embarrassing him." Cherry scolded.

Penny grew concerned about the boat and had to be sure if there was anyone there. Nemo was swimming out to the boat.

"I'm sorry, but this is none of your business." Marlin said to Cherry as she butted in like she did.

"He's not a guppy anymore." Cherry said.

"And you have no right to boss around my little cousin like you did." Atticus added.

"By the way, where is she?" Patch asked.

"OH, MY GOSH!" A chicken fish suddenly yelled out. "NEMO AND PENNY ARE SWIMMING OUT TO SEA!"'

"Wait, what?!" Atticus panicked.

"Nemo!" Marlin gasped.

"Penny, no!" Atticus added.

Nemo and Penny were swimming up close to the boat. Penny went up to the top of the boat. There appeared to be one man who was waiting on the boat as he hummed to himself.

"Uh-oh..." Penny whispered to herself before going back underwater.

Marlin kept telling Nemo not to touch the boat, but soon, Nemo did just that which seemed to summon a scuba diver.

"Oh, no..." Penny gulped before grabbing Nemo and swimming him away from the scuba diver.

"Huh?" Nemo blinked.

The scuba diver reached out for Nemo, wanting to collect him which scared the other fish. Unfortunately for the scuba diver, he was unsuccessful.

"PENNY!" Atticus yelped for his little cousin.

The scuba diver soon put Nemo in a plastic bag.

"DAAADDDYYY!" Nemo cried out.

"NEMO!" Marlin yelped.

"Let him go!" Penny glared as she hit the scuba diver so many times until he would let go of Nemo. Her hits didn't seem to do anything as the scuba diver began to take Nemo away.

Atticus swam up to try to help as the scuba diver soon swam away with the young clown fish.

"Let him go!" Penny glared as she did something she never did before, she punched the scuba diver in the face.

"Penny!" Atticus gasped at his little cousin.

The scuba diver did grunt from the punch in the face as he took Nemo away from the ocean. Penny soon grabbed on the plastic bag and soon started to pull Nemo away from the scuba diver. Another scuba diver soon came with an underwater camera and flashed it. Penny groaned as the light blinded her and she dropped the bag and the other scuba diver then took a hold of Nemo.

"Hey!" Penny glared.

Atticus soon punched the scuba diver to stop him.

"You okay, Penny?" Mo soothed the little girl.

"Yeah, that light just burned..." Penny twitched slightly.

"The flash from the camera can be a bit blinding." Mo said.

"Tell me about it." Cherry agreed as she hated school picture day for that very reason.

Atticus held Nemo protectively with a glare to the scuba divers.

"Yay! Atticus saved Nemo!" Penny cheered.

"Okay, mission over, let's go home, Drell." Cherry said.

"He's not here." Mo said.

"Well, it must be time to go home," Cherry replied. "This wasn't much of an adventure, I gotta say."

"Which for you must be a relief." Patch said.

"Yep, all right, Drell, take us home." Cherry replied.

Evil Manta seemed to swim by and take Nemo away without them noticing.

"Come on, Drell, take us home!" Cherry called out.

"Nemo must be taken away, it can teach Marlin how to let go of his son better." Drell's voice said.

Everyone looked around before seeing Drell as a merman as he thought they could use his help.

"And looks like Nemo did get taken away." Drell said.

"What?!" Atticus asked while fighting with Evil Manta.

"Silly merboy." Evil Manta smirked as he was being pinned down by Atticus. He soon slammed his tail down to cause a crack to appear on the ground.

The others yelped slightly from the rumbling and the crack. Mr. Ray kept his students close and safe away from the evil manta ray. Evil Manta soon stung Atticus with his tail.

Atticus hissed in slight pain before glaring. "You monster!"

"Good luck with finding Nemo." Evil Manta smirked before swimming off.

"Why, you!" Atticus glared.

Evil Manta laughed darkly as he swam off.


	5. Chapter 5

Marlin cried out for Nemo as he was unable to get him back and he was soon swimming into a blue fish.

"That's gotta hurt." Mo winced.

Atticus glared wherever Evil Manta went and soon went down to check on Marlin as he was lost.

"Wow, a blue tang fish!" Cherry beamed at the sight of the blue fish.

"Oh... Sorry!" The blue tang said to Marlin. "I didn't see you there!"

The blue tang fish soon swam down to see if Marlin was okay.

"He's gone... He's gone..." Marlin sounded miserable. "He's gone... No, no. They took him away. I have to find the boat."

"A boat?" The blue tang fish gasped. "Hey, I've seen a boat!"

"You have?" Marlin asked.

"Uh-huh, it passed by not too long ago." The blue tang fish replied.

"Was it a white boat?" Cherry asked.

"Hi, I'm Dory." The fish then introduced herself and held out a fin.

"Which way did it go?!" Atticus asked her.

"I-It went, um, this way and it went this way!" The blue tang fish replied before swimming off. "Follow me!"

"Thank you! Thank you!" Marlin followed her. "Thank you so much!"

"Yes, thank you!" Penny smiled.

"Oh, no, I hope that isn't Jenny and Charlie's Dory..." Drell mumbled to himself about the blue tang fish.

"No problem!" Dory smiled.

They soon swam after Dory as she helped them. Dory smiled, she then seemed to be disturbed by the ones behind her and seemed to be trying to avoid them.

"Yeah, that's Jenny and Charlie's Dory." Drell sighed.

"Who and who?" Penny asked.

Drell hummed innocently like he was pretending he didn't hear her.

"What is up with this girl?" Mo wondered as they tried to keep up with Dory who seemed to be swimming all around now.

"I have no idea." Atticus said.

Dory soon turned to the others in annoyance. "Will you quit it?"

"Quit what?" Penny asked.

"I'm trying to swim here," Dory glared. "What, ocean ain't big enough for you?"

"Do you even remember why we're following you?" Cherry asked.

"Yeah, you were showing us which way the boat went." Atticus added.

"A boat? Hey, I've seen a boat!" Dory smiled. "It passed by not too long ago. It went this way, and it went this way. Follow me!" She then started to swim away.

"What? But you already were!" Cherry told her.

"I was?" Dory asked. "Oh, dear..."

"If that's a practical joke, it's not funny!" Marlin glared at the blue tang fish. "And I know funny, I'm a clown fish!" 

"No, it's not," Dory sighed sadly. "I know it's not. I'm so sorry. See, I suffer from short-term memory loss."

"That's terrible." Mo frowned.

"Short-term memory loss?" Marlin scoffed before swimming off. "I don't believe this."

"No, it's true. I forget things almost instantly. It runs in my family…" Dory replied before pausing to think about it. "Or at least I think it does, hmm… Where are they?" she then turned to the others with a smile as she had already forgotten all about them. "Can I help you?"

"Now what?" Penny asked.

"Something's wrong with you, really." Marlin dismissed Dory.

"We better keep going." Mo said.

Dory watched them go.

"We better leave before anything else happens," Cherry glared back at the others as she swam forward until she bumped into someone. "Hey, watch where I'm go--...Ing..." her eyes then widened fearfully.

A great white shark grinned viciously to her. "Hello."

"Oh, my..." Cherry gulped.

"Well, hi!" Dory beamed to the shark.

"Name's Bruce." The shark held out his fin with a grin.

Atticus soon went up to the shark to give him a firm handshake. Cherry hid behind Atticus, shivering like the coward she was.

"Nice grip ya got there, merboy." Bruce grinned to Atticus. He soon felt that the grip got tighter.

Atticus narrowed his eyes slightly.

"It's all right, I understand," Bruce replied. "Why trust a shark, right? So, what's a school a bites like you doing out so late, eh?"

"Nothing," Marlin whimpered. "We're not doing anything. We're not even out."

"Great!" Bruce grinned. "Then how'd you morsels like to come to a little get-together I'm havin'?"

"Um, I'm not so sure we can make it." Penny said.

"Is it a party?" Dory asked in excitement.

"Yeah, yeah, that's right, a party!" Bruce grinned. 

"That sounds like fun." Dory smiled to the others.

"I'm not so sure." Mo said.

"Oh, come on, I insist." Bruce encouraged.

Cherry was swimming backward as he took the others over to come with him only for her to be included from Drell. 

"Drell, beat that shark up!" Cherry begged as he took her hand against her will.

"Don't worry, he doesn't eat fish or merpeople/mer-creatures." Drell said.

"What?" Cherry asked flatly.

"He and his friends have been trying to recover lately." Drell replied as he dragged her against her will.

"Seriously?" Cherry asked.

"Hey, look, balloons!" Dory beamed to the sights of anchored down spiked metal balls. "It is a party!"

"Actually, those are bombs." Atticus said.

"Bombs?!" Penny's eyes widened.

"Yep, looks like bombs." Patch said.

Bruce soon led the others to meet his fellow sharks named Anchor and Chum.

"Oh, just great..." Mo groaned.

Cherry tried to get out of Drell's hold as he seemed to be squeezing her hand.

"Don't worry, they won't eat you." Drell told her sincerely.

"They're sharks!" Cherry glared.

"They'll be fine as long as none of them sense any loose blood." Drell told her.

"What?" Cherry asked.

"Just get over here, ya pipsqueak." Drell scoffed.

"No way." Cherry shook her head.

"Oh..." Drell cooed. "Would you rather be in an aquarium in the dentist's office?"

"Yes, at least there I won't have to worry about sharks." Cherry said.

Drell smirked to Cherry which made her nervous. "See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya!" he then laughed as he teleported her to a fish tank in a dentist's office and turned her into a plain old goldfish.

"At least I'm safe," Cherry said. She then looked around. "Now, uh, where am I?"

A shrimp came up right behind her. "Bonjour."

This startled her a bit.

"Where'd you come from?" Cherry asked the shrimp.

"I could ask you zhe same zhing." The shrimp replied in his thick French accent.

A plastic treasure chest seemed to open and it showed bubbles which made a yellow fish zip over.

"Who was that?!" Cherry yelped.

A starfish poked her face off of the glass. "He likes bubbles, you must be the new one from the ocean."

"Oh, I hope not," a purple fish shivered nervously. "She could be covered in germs!" 

"She can't be from the ocean, she's just a plain old goldfish." A puffer fish smiled.

"New one?" Cherry asked. "Is there a young clown fish?"

"We haven't met a clown fish, but we heard the dentist say that he was bringing us over a new friend." The puffer fish replied.

"More like fishnapped." Cherry glared as she had a feeling this dentist was the same person that scuba dived.

Soon enough, the dentist came back and placed Nemo inside the tank.

"I KNEW IT!" Cherry called out. "Come down here so I can fish slap you!" To her dismay, he didn't.

Back with the others in the ocean...

"It's about time, mate." Anchor said to Bruce.

"We've already gone through all the snacks and I'm still starvin'!" Chum added. 

Penny whimpered as they were surrounded by even more sharks as Drell caught up with them.

"Back off!" Atticus glared at the sharks.

"Whoa, whoa, take it easy, buddy, we're not doing anything." Chum defended.

"Right, then," Bruce said to his fellow sharks. "The meeting has officially come to order. Let us all say the pledge…"

"'I am a nice shark, not a mindless eating machine'," The sharks recited together with their fins in the air. "'If I am to change this image, I must first change myself. Fish are friends, not food'."

"Wait, what?" The group asked.

Drell smirked as he knew all about this in advance.

"Except stinkin' dolphins." Anchor muttered.

"Dolphins! Yeah, they think they're so cute!" Chum scoffed before doing a mocking imitation of a dolphin. "'Hey, look at me. I'm a flippin' little dolphin! Let me flip for 'ya! Ain't I a somethin'?!"

Dory smiled as she seemed to enjoy being apart of this. Penny soon calmed down once she saw they were friendly.

"Right, then," Bruce said to his friends. "Today's meeting is step 5, 'Bring a Fish Friend'. Now do you all have your friends?"

"Got mine." Anchor replied as he showed a deathly frightened green fish.

"Hi, there!" Dory greeted the fish.

"How 'bout you, Chum?" Bruce asked the other shark.

"Oh, um, I seemed to have misplaced my, uh, friend." Chum smiled nervously before showing a skeleton between his teeth.

"You accidentally ate your friend?" Drell asked him.

"Oh, like you haven't done that?" Atticus teased Drell since how he was.

Drell rolled his eyes to that. Marlin was of course utterly terrified at the sight. He soon moved so Chum might take Atticus as his next 'friend'.

"That's all right, Chum," Bruce soothed his friend. "I had a feeling this would be a difficult step, you can help yourself to one of my friends."

"Oh, thanks, mate," Chum clutched Atticus. "A little chum for Chum, eh?"

"Yeah." Atticus nodded.

"I'll start the testimonies," Bruce started. "Hello, my name is Bruce."

"Hello, Bruce." Everyone else replied in unison.

"It has been three weeks since my last fish," Bruce said before raising his fin. "On my honor, or may I be chopped up and made into soup."

"Nice." Drell said.

"You're an inspiration to all of us." Chum applauded.

"Amen." Anchor added.

"Who's next?" Bruce asked.

"Ooh! Pick me! Pick me!" Dory piped up.

"She isn't too bright." Drell whispered to himself.

"Yes, the little Sheila down the front." Bruce smiled to Dory.

"Whoo-hoo!" Dory cheered as she took her turn. "Hi, I'm Dory."

"Hello, Dory." Everyone said in unison.

"And, uh, well… I don't think I've ever eaten a fish." Dory then said with a small smile.

There was awkward silence for a moment until the sharks then applauded her. 

"I'm so glad I got that off my chest." Dory sighed in relief.

"Oh, brother." Drell grumbled under his breath.

"All right, anyone else?" Bruce asked before looking to Marlin. "Hello, how 'bout you, mate? What's your problem?"

"Me? I don't have a problem." Marlin replied.

"Uh-huh." Drell said, unimpressed.

"Denial!" The sharks agreed before shoving Marlin over.

"Just start with your name." Bruce encouraged.

Marlin came in front unwillingly to the podium which appeared to be a broken down sink. "Okay. Uh, hello. My name is Marlin. I'm a clown fish--"

"A clown fish, really?!" Chum beamed.

"Oh, boy, here we go." Drell groaned.

The sharks encouraged Marlin to tell a joke since he was a clown fish.

Marlin tried his joke from earlier, but soon looked up to a rock to see a scuba mask which distracted him. "Nemo..." he then whispered before swimming up to it.

"Wait, did he just say Nemo?" Penny asked.

"Nemo!" Chum laughed as he thought that was the punchline before he looked confused. "I don't get it."

"For a clown fish, he's not that funny." Bruce replied.

"No, no, no, no, he's my son," Marlin replied as he swam up to the mask that separated him from his only son. "He was taken by these divers."

"Oh, you poor fish." Dory frowned.

"Humans," Chum scoffed. "Think they own everything."

"Probably American." Anchor replied.

"Now there is a father looking for his little boy." Bruce mourned.

Marlin soon got a look at the back of the scuba diving mask. "Ugh! What do these markings mean?" he asked in frustration as he couldn't read the writing as the sharks cried in sympathy for him for losing his son.

"Well then, we gotta find a fish who can read this," Dory said before smiling brightly. "Hey, look, sharks!"

"Dory, I don't think you should do that." Drell said.

Marlin tried to take the mask away from Dory, but soon it roughly hit her in the face which actually made Drell cringe.

"Oww!" Dory groaned as she held her face with her fins.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Marlin frowned. "Are you okay?"

"You really clocked me there," Dory frowned before removing her fins as a stream of blood came out from her face and seemed to go into Bruce's nostrils. "Am I bleeding?"

"Oh, no.... Atticus, you better get ready." Drell said.

"Ready for what?" Atticus asked.

"Surely you know what happens when a shark can sense blood." Drell replied.

"Oh, right....." Atticus said as he got ready to handle Bruce.

"Oohh, that's good." Bruce grinned once he sniffed the blue tang fish's blood.

"INTERVENTION!" Anchor and Chum gasped.

Atticus soon swan towards Bruce. Chum and Anchor held Bruce down as he was getting hungry for fish again.

"Stay down!" Atticus glared at Bruce.

"Come on, let's go!" Mo urged the others to swim away.

"And make it fast!" Drell added.

Atticus glared to Bruce as Anchor and Chum helped restrain him reminding him that fish were friends and not food.

"Look, here's something. 'Es-cap-e'!" Dory looked to a sign and read it aloud before laughing. "I wonder what that means, oh, that's funny, it's spelled just like the word 'escape'."

"Quick, out through the escape!" Drell told them.

The group quickly made their way towards the escape hatch, just as Bruce was close to opening the door after multiple head-butts.

"Here's Brucey!" Bruce grinned.

"Wait a minute," Marlin looked to Dory. "You can read?!"

"I can read?" Dory asked before remembering. "That's right, I can read!"

"Quick, read the mask!" Penny told her.

Suddenly, Bruce burst through the roof of the submarine clutching the mask along his teeth. 

"STOP IT!" Atticus scolded the shark. "You like fish as friends now, remember?!"

"His sense of blood is blinding him." Mo said.

"Ugh..." Atticus groaned. "Listen to me, Bruce! I am the nephew of King Triton and Queen Athena!"

"I don't care!" Bruce snarled as he was eager to eat the others.

"Quick, into the torpedo launcher!" Drell told Marlin and Dory.

Marlin was hesitant, but Dory already swam ahead.

"What about us?" Penny asked.

Drell helped them out.

"Hey, where's Cherry?" Mo noticed they were missing someone.

"Maybe Bruce ate her." Drell ignored.

"Drell, where is Cherry?" Patch asked.

"I think she ran into a jellyfish." Drell lied.

"Drell!" The others scolded.

Soon enough, the torpedo launched into Bruce's mouth and Marlin and Dory grabbed the mask. Bruce then shook the torpedo out of his mouth and it was going toward one of the mines.

"Oh, no..." Mo gulped.

"Bruce?" Anchor muttered.

"What?" Bruce sniffed until he took a look and was in shock. "SWIM AWAY! SWIM AWAY!"

The torpedo soon hit the mines and there was an explosion all throughout the ocean.

"Everyone, back in the ship!" Drell yelped.

Everyone soon went for cover as there were explosions all around. Atticus coughed as he wasn't harmed, but soon shook off the explosions and narrowed his eyes as he looked for Bruce, but he seemed to had disappeared with Anchor and Chum. Mo soon sped up to Atticus and hugged him as she felt worried about him.

"I'm fine." Atticus said.

"Penny, are you all right?" Mo asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Penny came out of hiding with Patch.

"Whew." Mo sighed.

"Okay, Drell, where's Cherry?" Atticus demanded as he gave a stare in the warlock's eyes.

Drell sighed and looked away. "She's in a dentist's office right now."

"And why is she there?" Mo asked.

Drell smiled nervously as it looked like he had a lot of explaining to do.


	6. Chapter 6

Meanwhile with Cherry...

"Dad?" Nemo panted as he was placed in a fish tank. "Daddy?!"

"Nemo, are you alright?" Cherry asked.

"Who are you?" Nemo asked.

"It's me, Cherry," Cherry replied. "I'm a goldfish now... Don't ask, but it's gonna be okay, I'm sure we'll get out of here soon."

"Where's Dad and the others?" Nemo whimpered.

"They're back in the ocean," Cherry said. "With a new friend."

"What?" Nemo asked as he felt lost. "But where are we?"

The yellow fish soon zipped over to his toy chest and glared at Cherry and Nemo.

"He likes bubbles." The starfish told Nemo as he felt uneasy about this whole new world.

"Don't worry, Nemo, none of the fish here are going to hurt us." Cherry assured.

"Hello there, little fellas," The scuba diver, revealing to be in his dentist scrubs smiled to Nemo and Cherry before looking to a familiar blonde boy. "Beauty, aren't they? I found that guy struggling for life out on the reef and I saved him."

"They seem to be, Dr. Sherman." The boy replied. 

Soon enough, female chipmunks came to also see and Cherry recognized them instantly! It was Brittany, Jeanette, and Eleanor.

"Girls!" Cherry called out.

"That one looks like its talking to us." Brittany pointed to the goldfish.

"Oh, Britt, don't tap the glass," Eleanor told her sister. "T-They don't like that."

"Girls, it's me, Cherry!" Cherry called out.

Eleanor seemed to stare right at the goldfish. "Cherry..." she then repeated almost like she could understand.

"What's with that fish?" Brittany asked.

"I dunno, I don't speak Fish." Jeanette shrugged.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T SPEAK FISH?!" Cherry flipped out at the Chipettes. "Learn! LEEEEARRRN!"

"Cherry?" The blonde boy asked her.

Cherry took a look at the blonde boy. "Wait, Cody, is that you?"

"Yeah," Cody smiled. "My Aunt Olivia is shadowing a dentist for a possible job for her college."

"Well, can you help me and Nemo get out of here?" Cherry asked.

"Um, we'd love to, but we're busy right now." Cody replied.

Cherry sighed as she hit her head against the tank which made a clink noise.

"I miss my dad," Nemo frowned. "Where is he?"

"Honey, your dad's probably back at the pet store." The starfish soothed almost maternally.

"I'm afraid Nemo isn't from a pet store." Cherry said.

"What's a pet store?" Nemo asked.

"If he's not from a pet store, then where did he come from?" The purple fish asked.

"The ocean." Cherry said.

"Ah, the ocean," the purple fish said before his eyes widened. "The ocean! Aaah! He hasn't been decontaminated yet! Jacques!" he then called out.

"Oui." The shrimp replied.

"Clean him!" The purple fish urged.

"Oui." The shrimp nodded as he then went to Nemo to 'clean' him.

"Ocean." The purple fish told the shrimp.

The shrimp soon spun Nemo around until he soon stopped. "Viola, he is clean!"

Cherry rolled her eyes to that, but at least it would settle down the purple fish.

"Wow, the big blue," The yellow fish said to Nemo. "What's it like?"

"Really?" Cherry asked, unimpressed.

"Um, big and blue?" Nemo replied.

"I knew it." The yellow fish pouted.

"Guys, if there's anything you need, just ask your Auntie Deb, that's me, or if I'm not around, you can always talk to my sister, Flo," The blue, black, and white fish smiled before looking to her reflection. "Hi, how are you?" she then looked back, seeming slightly crazier than Pinkie Pie which disturbed Cherry gratefully. "Don't listen to anything my sister says, she's nuts!"

"Uh-huh." Cherry said as she backed away from Deb.

The starfish muffled.

"Can't hear ya, Peach." The blow fish said to her. 

The starfish then popped her face out to sound clearer. "I said we got a live one!"

"A live one?" Cherry asked.

There appeared to be a root canal going on from the dentist. Cherry winced and cringed as she hated visiting the dentist more than anything before she turned away while the others in the tank looked interested.

"I think you should cut down on the candy." Eleanor waved her finger to the patient.

"I'll try that." The patient said.

Cherry winced and grimaced each time she heard the scraping noises as she deeply hated going to the dentist.

"Oooh, he's using a Hedstrom file." The blow fish noticed.

"That's not a Hedstrom file," The purple fish retorted. "That's a K-Flex."

"What's the difference?" Cherry asked.

"I'll never know, honey." Peach sighed as the blow fish and the purple fish soon had an argument.

The blow fish soon got bloated.

"I'll go deflate him." Deb rolled her eyes before swimming after the blow fish.

"All right," Olivia told the patient. "Now go ahead and rinse."

The patient then came over the sink and spit the water into it after his root canal.

"Yuck." Cherry cringed.

"Oh, the human mouth is a disgusting place." The purple fish agreed.

Cherry glared in slight offense to that, but she didn't say anything since she was a goldfish now.

Suddenly, a figure crashed into the nearby window and it was a pelican.

"A pelican!" Cherry yelped.

"Hey, Nigel." Peach greeted.

"What did I miss?" The pelican looked around. "Am I late?"

"Root canal and it's a doozy." Peach told him.

"Root canal, huh?" Nigel asked. "Which one did he use?"

"Gator-Glidden drill." Peach told him.

"He seems to be favoring that one," Nigel replied. "Hope he doesn't get surplus sealer at the portal terminus--" He then noticed Cherry and Nemo. "Hello, who're they?"

"Uh, hi." Cherry said.

"New guys." Deb giggled.

"The dentist took them off the reef." The purple fish named Gurgle added.

"More like he kidnapped or fishnapped Nemo and, uh, me from the reef!" Cherry told them.

"Outies," Nigel replied. "From my neck of the woods, eh? Sorry if I ever took a snap at you. Fish gotta swim, birds gotta eat."

"Hey! No, no, no, no!" The dentist glared at the pelican for breaking into his office as he began to throw him out. "They not your fish; they're my fish. Come on, go! Go on, shoo!"

"They were just talking, sir." Cody pouted.

Unfortunately, the dentist still shooed the pelican out of the building.

"Oh, the picture broke." The dentist frowned as he took out a framed picture from the window.

"Who's that, Dr. Sherman?" Olivia asked as she got the next patient settled in.

"This here's Darla, she's my niece," The dentist smiled. "She's going to be eight this week."

"Uh, why is her fish dead?" Cody gulped as he saw a dead pet fish in a plastic bag in the hands on a red-haired girl with braces.

"Aw, she's a good girl, but she shook her last birthday present a little too hard." Dr. Sherman smiled innocently like Darla was just playing.

"She thought the fish was sleeping when he was actually awake!" Olivia reminded the dentist.

"Poor mate." Cody frowned about the fish in the picture.

"Hey, little fella, say hello to your new mummy," Dr. Sherman smiled to Nemo as he showed Darla's picture to him. "She'll be here Friday to pick you up. You're her present," he then shushed playfully. "It's our little secret." He soon put the picture in front of the fish tank.

"Gah!" Cherry flinched at the little girl's picture. "And I thought I had a horrible smile." 

"Oh, Darla.." the blow fish named Bloat sighed.

"What?" Nemo asked. "What's wrong with her?"

"She wouldn't stop shaking the bag." Gurgle shuddered.

"She's a fish killer!" Peach added.

"I can't go with that girl!" Nemo tried to swim away. "I have to get back to my dad!"

"Nemo, calm down, you won't go with her," Cherry assured him. "AND LOOK OUT!" she then yelped.

Nemo was then sucked in through by a tube that sucked minerals out of the water. "Cherry! Help me!" he then cried out.

"Don't worry, Nemo, I'm coming!" Cherry told him as she swam up to help him out.

The other tank fish panicked for poor Nemo.

"Nobody touch him!" A sharp male voice called out.

"Who said that?" Cherry asked. She then looked to a skull figure before a new fish came out who looked very grim and serious, even moreso than Forte which gave her chills around her new gills. "Who are you?"

"Name's Gil." The fish replied.

"That fits." Cherry smirked.

He soon swam to Nemo.

"Can you help me?" Nemo whimpered.

"No," Gil replied. "You got yourself in there, you can get yourself out."

"What?!" Cherry gasped.

"Gil..." Deb spoke up.'

"I just wanna see him do it, okay?" Gil glared before looking to Nemo. "Calm down. Alternate wiggling your fins and your tail."

"I can't," Nemo frowned. "I have a bad fin."

"Never stopped me." Gil replied before swimming off to show he had scars on one side of his body.

Nemo was shocked to see that.

"Just think about what you need to do." Gil mentored Nemo.

Nemo soon began to do just that. Cherry was nervous for Nemo, but the others encouraged the young clown fish to do it on his own from Gil's advice. Nemo finally pushed himself free from the tube much to the relief of the group.

"Perfect." Gil nodded once.

"Whew." Cherry sighed out of relief.

"Yay!" The yellow fish named Bubbles cheered.

"You did it!" Gurgle added.

"Nice squirming!" Deb laughed.

Cherry was happy and relieved that Nemo got out of the tube.

"Wow, from the ocean," Peach smiled. "Just like you, Gil."

"Yeah." Gil nodded.

"I've seen that look before," Peach chuckled. "What are you thinking about?"

"I'm thinking… Tonight, we give them a proper reception." Gil replied.

"So, you two got a name or what?" Bloat asked Nemo and Cherry.

"Nemo," The young clown fish smiled. "I'm Nemo."

"And I'm Cherry." Cherry added.


End file.
